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JOINT CIRCULAR

Guiding the implementation of the Program on socio-economic development in special difficulty-hit communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the 2006-2010 period

Pursuant to the Prime Minister's Decision No. 07/2006/QD-TTg of January 10, 2006, approving the Program on socio-economic development in difficulty-hit communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the 2006-2010 period (hereinafter referred to as Program 135, phase II); the Nationalities Committee, the Planning and Investment Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Construction Ministry, and the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry hereby jointly guide the implementation as follows:

Part I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. This Circular guides the implementation of Program 135, phase II, under the Prime Minister's Decision No. 07/2006/QD-TTg of January 10, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as Decision No. 07/2006/QD-TTg) implemented in communes, villages and hamlets under the Prime Minister's decisions.

2. Program 135, phase II, is invested with many capital sources: The central budget's supports, local budgets and mobilized contributions. The spirit of self-reliance and self-support of poor households and the entire community shall be promoted so as to help them escape from poverty, benefits of ethnic minority people shall be combined with their responsibilities for participating in the program implementation. Provincial/municipal People's Committees (hereinafter referred to as provincial People's Committees) shall have to mobilize resources of their respective localities, of units, organizations and people of all strata inside and outside their provinces, and integrate other programs and projects in their localities for implementation.

3. Capital sources shall be incorporated in unified management plans. The annual allocation of the central budget's support capital to localities must ensure that all communes, villages and hamlets shall benefit from such support, and be notified to every commune and be invested for proper purposes and right subjects, with efficiency and no waste and loss. The central government shall allocate support capital to provinces on the average based on the number of their communes, villages and hamlets. In localities, capital allocation shall be made according to the criteria formulated by provincial People's Committees on the basis of the conditions of geographical position, land area, population, percentage of poor households and particular conditions of each commune, village or hamlet, then submitted to provincial People's Councils for decision, and serve as a basis for allocation of specific capital amounts to communes, villages and communes or hamlets, not on an average basis.

4. The program shall be implemented in an open and democratic manner right at the grassroots level, strongly mobilizing the people's participation in the implementation. Provincial People's Committees shall direct the implementation in an open manner and in compliance with current regulations.

5. To enhance the decentralization of responsibilities to communes for management of projects under the Program. Provincial People's Committees and People's Committees of districts and towns (hereinafter referred to as district People's Committees) shall have to guide and dispatch officials to help communes in the project management.

6. The program implementation in communes must achieve the following objectives: Communes shall be provided with supports for investment in their socio-economic development; the contingent of commune, village or hamlet officials shall be trained or re-trained for higher qualifications; people shall have more jobs and earn additional incomes from the participation in the program implementation in the communes.

7. From 2008 on, annual reviews shall be conducted to identify and exclude communes, villages and hamlets which achieve the program's objectives from the program.

Part II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

I. EXECUTION OF PROJECTS AND REALIZATION OF POLICIES

Program 135, phase II, have four tasks, which shall be performed through the following specific projects and policies:

1. The project on support for production development and economic restructuring, and raising of the production level of ethnic minority people (hereinafter called the production development support project for short).

2. The project on development of essential infrastructures.

3. The project on training and re-training to raise capabilities of commune, village, hamlet and community officials.

4. Policies on support for provision of services, improvement of the people's living standards and legal support to raise the people's law awareness.

Below are specific provisions on execution of projects and realization of policies under Program 135, phase II.

1. The production development support project

1.1. Objects:

a/ Poor households (living below the poverty line set in the Prime Minister's Decision No. 170/2005/QD-TTg of July 8, 2005, setting the poverty line for application in the 2006-2010 period) shall be given with priority additional support in the program's service activities.

b/ Households living in communes, villages or hamlets covered by the program shall be partially supported with the project's development investment.

Households being policy beneficiaries shall be openly and democratically selected from the grassroots. Commune People's Committees shall draw up lists of these households, then submit them through the standing bodies of commune People's Councils to district People's Committees for approval.

1.2. Investment contents:

The production development support project shall cover the following activities:

1.2.1. Support for agricultural, forestry, fishery and industrial extension;

1.2.2. Support for formulation and propagation of production models;

1.2.3. Support for supply of plant saplings, animal breeds, production materials (applicable to poor households);

1.2.4. Support for procurement of equipment, facilities, machines and tools for post-harvest processing and preservation of products. The bracket of support levels and specific types of equipment, facilities and machines shall be guided by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

1.3. Procedures for formulation, evaluation and approval of investment projects and plans:

1.3.1. Procedures for formulation, evaluation and approval of projects shall be guided by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

1.3.2. Elaboration of investment plans: Provincial/municipal Agriculture and Rural Development Services shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the concerned services and branches in, guiding investment activities suitable to local conditions. Each investment activity shall be formulated from villages or hamlets, and discussed and selected by people. Basing themselves on each investment activity selected by the people and the number of benefiting households, commune People's Committees shall elaborate and submit investment plans to district People's Committees for evaluation, approval, sum-up and reporting to provincial People's Committees;

After summing up the reports of districts, provincial People's Committees shall approve annual capital plans, the capital plan for the whole phase and plans on mobilization of capital sources.

1.3.3. Basing themselves on capital plans for the project already decided by provincial People's Committees, provincial/municipal Agriculture and Rural Development Services shall elaborate specific support levels for each activity or beneficiary, then propose them to provincial People's Committees for decision for use as a basis for approval of capital estimates, settlement and finalization.

1.3.4. Basing themselves on districts' project execution capital plans assigned by provincial People's Committees and the set support levels, district People's Committees shall approve capital estimates of each commune, then sum up and report them to provincial/municipal Agriculture and Rural Development Services, Planning and Investment Services, and the program's standing office for knowledge, monitoring and supervision of implementation.

1.3.5. Capital sources for development of production models, procurement of equipment, facilities and machines for post-harvest processing and preservation shall be allocated from development investment capital sources, while other contents of the project shall be funded with non-business capital in the plan years' budget estimates.

1.4. Organization of implementation:

1.4.1. Provincial/municipal Agriculture and Rural Development Services shall assist provincial People's Committees in performing the tasks of state management of the project in their respective localities and other specific tasks under the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry's guidance.

1.4.2. Each district People's Committee shall assign one of its attached units to manage the project execution and may base itself on the capabilities of commune officials and specific conditions of the project to assign the commune administrations to manage some or all contents of the project.

District People's Committees shall have to direct, guide, inspect and supervise the project execution in their respective localities.

1.4.3. Specific activities of the project and procedures for project execution, test, acceptance and handover shall be guided by the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

2. The infrastructure development project

2.1. Works eligible for investment

2.1.1. Works eligible for investment in communes:

a/ Roads from communes to villages or hamlets or roads linking villages and hamlets. Capital sources of Program 135 shall not be used for investment in building motor roads to commune centers;

b/ Small-sized irrigation works in service of intra-commune or inter-village/hamlet production;

c/ Works for supply of power from communes to villages and hamlets. Capital sources of Program 135 shall not be used for investment in building works for power supply to commune centers;

d/ Building of new schools and classrooms and upgrading of existing ones in commune centers, which shall be sufficiently supplied with daily-life power and water, and completely furnished with pupils' tables and benches and facilities in service of semi-boarding pupils, and sufficient dwelling houses for teachers. Building of primary education and pre-school classrooms, kindergartens, dwelling houses for teachers and auxiliary works in villages and hamlets where they are needed.

e/ Building of new health stations and upgrading of existing ones, which shall have sufficient auxiliary works, be sufficiently supplied with daily-life power and water and furnished with essential equipment and facilities according to set standards of commune medical establishments;

f/ Marketplaces: Supports shall only be provided for investment in building enclosed market houses and initial ground clearance on areas of under 5,000 m2 each;

g/ Houses for communal activities in villages and hamlets each with 50 households or more;

h/ Concentrated daily-life water supply works.

2.1.2. Works eligible for investment in villages or hamlets of region-II communes:

a/ Roads from villages and communes to commune centers;

b/ Small-sized irrigation works: Culverts, dams, pumping stations, canals, ditches and works on canals and ditches within villages and hamlets, other irrigation works each invested with less than VND 500 million;

c/ Works for supply of power from communes to villages and hamlets;

d/ Primary education and pre-school classrooms, kindergartens, dwelling houses for teachers, completely furnished with pupils' tables and benches and sufficiently supplied with daily-life power and water;

e/ Houses for communal activities in villages and hamlets with 50 households or more each;

f/ Daily-life water supply works.

2.2. Investors:

2.2.1. Infrastructure works of Program 135 are small-sized ones and built within communes, village or hamlets. Provincial People's Committees shall authorize district People's Committees to decide on investment in infrastructure works of the program in their respective districts.

2.2.2. Basing themselves on sizes and characteristics of works, provincial People's Committees shall decide to designate district or commune administrations to act as investors. For works managed by districts, district People's Committees shall act as investors. For those managed by communes, commune People's Committees shall act as investors.

a/ The following small-sized and technically simple infrastructure works shall be assigned to communes to act as investors:

- Roads to villages and hamlets, which shall be manually constructed;

- Irrigation works which are largely canals and ditches;

- Primary education, pre-school and young-bud classrooms for children of villages and hamlets;

- Houses for communal activities;

- Works for supply of daily-life water to villages and hamlets;

- Other works, each invested with less than VND 300 million;

- Works to be built in special difficulty-hit villages and hamlets of region-II communes.

b/ Works other than those specified above shall have their investors being district administrations. In the course of management, depending on the size and characteristics of each specific work and the capabilities of commune officials, district People's Committees may designate commune administrations to act as investors of works larger than those specified above.

2.3. Project management units

2.3.1. Investors shall decide on the establishment of project management units according to the following regulations:

a/ For investors being district administrations: District People's Committees shall establish project management units or assign existing project management units to manage projects. Presidents or vice presidents of district People's Committees shall not concurrently act as heads of project management units. District project management units may open accounts at district State Treasury branches and have their own seals.

b/ For investors being commune administrations: In each commune there shall be a common project management unit to manage all projects in the commune. Commune project management units shall have the legal person status and may open accounts at district State Treasury branches and use seals of commune administrations in transactions.

2.3.2. Tasks of project management units:

a/ To carry out procedures for land assignment and receipt, preparation of construction grounds and other activities in service of construction of works;

b/ To prepare design dossiers and construction cost estimates for appraisal and approval by investors according to regulations;

c/ To make bidding dossiers (if any) and organize the selection of contractors;

d/ To negotiate and sign contracts with contractors under investors' authorization;

e/ To perform, when fully capable, the task of project supervision, and coordinate with commune supervisory boards in overseeing construction activities; to report the construction progress.

f/ To conduct pre-acceptance test of works, payment and finalization of expenditures under the signed contracts;

g/ To manage the construction quality, volume, progress and costs, environmental safety and hygiene of construction works;

h/ To accept and hand over works;

i/ To make annual reports on implementation results and investment capital, and finalization reports upon the completion and commissioning projects;

j/ To perform other tasks authorized by investors and take responsibility therefor before investors.

If project management units are incapable to perform one of the above tasks, they must hire consultants. Where no qualified consultant is available, district People's Committees shall dispatch capable officials to assist project management units.

2.4. Commune supervisory boards

2.4.1. Commune supervisory boards are tasked to supervise the construction of works in their communes from construction survey to construction, pre-acceptance test, handover and commissioning of works as well as payment and finalization of works' expenditures.

2.4.2. In the course of construction, commune supervisory boards shall coordinate with investors' supervisors (project management units' supervisors and supervision consultants) and author's supervisors in supervising construction quality and volume, prices of construction materials, construction progress, and take part in the pre-acceptance test of works at different stages.

2.5. Infrastructure construction planning

2.5.1. Communes newly covered by the program shall organize the elaboration of their construction plannings before organizing construction activities. Communes to be invested under the program shall review and adjust their construction plannings to make them compatible with plannings on production and distribution of their population in villages and hamlets. Infrastructure works must be invested efficiently to serve densely populated areas. Investment must not be made in building infrastructure works in areas where people live scatteredly in small numbers.

2.5.2. Commune People's Committees shall select capable consultancy units to elaborate construction plannings for submission by commune People's Councils to district People's Committees for approval. Funds for elaboration of such plannings shall be planned and taken from the state budget's investment capital for Program 135.

2.6. Investment plans

2.6.1. Commune People's Committees shall, in the second quarter of every year, publicize the works eligible for investment defined at Point 2.1 and the lists of works included in their communes' construction plannings for opinions of the people and mass organizations so as to select works of appropriate sizes under such plannings and include them, in the priority order, in the following year's implementation plans, which shall be summed up and reported by commune People's Councils to district People's Committees for sum-up and submission to provincial People's Committees.

2.6.2. Under the Planning and Investment Ministry's guidance on elaboration of annual plans and lists of works eligible for planned investment, provincial People's Committees shall approve investment preparation plans as the basis for investors to organize the elaboration of econo-technical reports. Funds for elaboration of econo-technical reports shall be planned and taken from the state budget's investment capital for the projects under Program 135.

2.7. Elaboration, appraisal and approval of econo-technical reports on work construction

2.7.1. Investment projects on infrastructures in communes, villages or hamlets include also small-sized works which do not require the formulation of investment projects but only econo-technical reports on work construction and which must be invested and completed within two years. For a work capitalized at under VND 500 million and already planned, its econo-technical report shall only state the name of the work, the name of the investor, the construction location, the work size, capital sources, the construction duration, the completion time, the drawing design and the cost estimates.

2.7.2. Econo-technical reports on work construction shall be made by capable units having the legal person status and selected by investors, then submitted to district People's Committees for evaluation and approval according to regulations.

2.7.3. Infrastructure investment costs shall be managed under the guidance in the Construction Ministry's Circular No. 01/2006/TT-BXD of May 17, 2006, guiding the estimation and management of construction investment costs under the Program for socio-economic development in special difficulty-hit communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the 2006-2010 period.

2.8. Investment and construction of works

The investment and construction of works shall comply with the Construction Law, the Bidding Law, the Government's Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP of December 16, 2004, on management of quality of works, and Decree No. 16/2005/ND-CP of February 7, 2005, on management of construction investment projects, and the guiding documents. For infrastructure works under Program 135, due to their particular characteristics, some specific regulations shall be applied as follows:

2.8.1. Selection of construction contractors

a/ Appointment of construction contractors:

Bidding is encouraged for all construction activities. In the following cases, the mode of appointment of contractors shall apply: bidding packages for construction consultancy services valued at under VND 500 million each; bidding packages for provision of goods and construction, valued at under VND one billion each under development investment projects; bidding packages for provision of goods, valued at under VND 100 million each under projects or in cost estimates for regular procurements. For the above-said cases, bidding shall be organized when it is deemed necessary.

b/ The selection of enterprises as construction contractors must be publicly notified by project management units at public places, on local radio, television and newspapers. Project management units shall also notify in writing contractors of information on works and selection criteria within 10 days in advance. For each work, there must be at least three contractors for selection. The project management unit shall select the most appropriate contractor for the district People's Committee president to decide.

Provincial People's Committees shall specify procedures for and modes of contractor selection, and form of construction contract.

c/ Work volumes to be performed mostly by manual labor and possibly by communes themselves shall be assigned by investors to communes, which shall organize and take responsibility for construction work. Investors shall sign contracts directly with local people through communes' construction teams and groups in order to create jobs for local people to have more incomes, with priority given to poor households and women. The performance of such contracts and payment of remuneration to people shall be supervised by commune supervisory boards.

Investors shall create conditions for local people and other forces such as border guards and army units stationing in communes covered by Program 135 to participate in the building of infrastructure works and economic development in such communes.

d/ Works built by people in communes on their own shall have at most 50% of their annually planned capital amounts paid in advance. Works constructed by enterprises shall have at most 30% of their annually planned capital amounts paid in advance.

2.8.2. Supervision of construction activities

a/ The construction of works shall be supervised by investors, supervision consultants, author's supervisors and commune supervisory boards. Investors shall select consultancy units capable of supervising construction. Where no qualified construction supervision consultancy unit is available, investors shall base themselves on specific conditions to organize the construction supervision and bear responsibility for their decisions.

b/ Supervision by investors shall comply with the provisions of Article 21 of Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP.

2.8.3. Pre-acceptance test, handover, management and operation of works

a/ Pre-acceptance test of a work: The investor shall organize the pre-acceptance test of a completed work which shall be participated by the following persons:

- The representative of the project management unit;

- Representatives of design consultancy, construction and supervision consultancy units;

- The supervisory representative of the investor, the representative of the commune supervisory board and representatives of organizations and individuals that manage and use the work;

In specific cases, investors may also invite other concerned persons to participate in the pre-acceptance test.

b/ Handover of works for management and operation

- After the acceptance of a work, the investor shall hand it over to the commune People's Committee for subsequent handover to villages, hamlets, units or individuals for management, use and maintenance, and transfer all related dossiers and documents to the commune People's Committee.

- Regular repair and maintenance of infrastructure works for common use within communes or villages may be funded with support capital from local budgets and other mobilized sources.

- Works and work items used for the provision of services or benefiting individual households and groups of households shall be managed, repaired and maintained by users themselves.

- Basing themselves on Decree No. 209/2004/ND-CP and this Circular, provincial People's Committees shall specify and guide the regular repair and maintenance of works.

3. The project on training and re-training for raising capability of commune, village and community officials

3.1. Subject to training and re-training are:

3.1.1. Commune-level civil servants, full-time and part-time officials, part-time officials in villages or hamlets defined in the Government's Decree No. 121/2003/ND-CP of October 21, 2003, providing for regimes and policies toward officials and civil servants in communes, wards and townships.

3.1.2. Officials dispatched from higher levels to assist communes.

3.1.3. Members of commune management and supervisory boards;

3.1.4. Persons with prestige in villages or hamlets;

3.1.5. Persons who make excellent production achievements and play an active role in hunger eradication, poverty alleviation and rural development in communes, villages or hamlets;

3.1.6. Source officials who are planned to be appointed as leading commune officials;

3.1.7. Commune-level legal assistance collaborators, members of commune legal assistance clubs.

3.1.8. Ethnic minority youths aged between 16 and 25 years.

Among the above-said subjects, priority shall be given to ethnic minority or female officials.

3.2. Training and re-training contents:

a/ Policies on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas;

b/ The mechanism for management and implementation of Program 135; knowledge about management of investment projects, supervision, assessment, review reports, capital settlement and finalization, etc, regarding projects and policies under Program 135, phase II;

c/ Knowledge about agricultural, forestry, fishery and industrial extension, credit for poor people, effective hunger eradication and poverty alleviation models, for improving production development, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation skills.

d/ The Regulation on grassroots democracy and the community's participation in the implementation of the program: elaboration of plans and supervision of investment;

e/ Supports for job training for ethnic minority people (integrated with the implementation of the Prime Minister's Decision No. 81/2005/QD-TTg of April 18, 2005, on the policy of support for short-term job training for rural laborers applicable to youths aged between 16 and 25 years).

f/ Relevant legal knowledge.

3.3. Training and re-training documents

Training and re-training documents shall compiled and published by the Nationalities Committee in collaboration with concerned ministries and branches. Particular documents for each locality shall be compiled under the direction by the provincial People's Committee for uniform use in such locality.

3.4. Training and re-training forms:

3.4.1. Short-term intensive training courses shall be organized at district or provincial training establishments;

3.4.2. On-spot re-training: Dissemination of information and knowledge at meetings; propaganda through public-address systems in villages and hamlets; distribution of study documents and organization of training and study tours inside or outside provinces.

3.5. Training and re-training plans:

3.5.1. Basing themselves on the contents and eligible subjects of training or re-training, commune People's Committees shall assess on and classify professional qualifications and capability of their officials for selection of eligible subjects, then sum up and report them and their training or re-training needs to district People's Committees.

3.5.2. District People's Committees shall classify eligible subjects, sum up their training or re-training needs and estimate training or re-training costs before working out and reporting training or re-training plans to provincial People's Committees.

3.5.3. Provincial standing offices of Program 135 shall assume the prime responsibility for working out and submitting annual and long-term training and re-training plans to provincial People's Committees for approval.

3.5.4. Basing themselves on assigned plans on project execution funds, the provincial standing offices of Program 135 shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Services and Finance Services in, working out plans on fund allocation, reporting them to provincial People's Committees, submitting them to provincial People's Councils for decision, and breaking them down in separate columns or items of such assigned plans.

3.5.5. Funds for project execution shall be allocated from the state budget's non-business funding sources. Training and re-training funds shall be used in accordance with the spending items for appropriate training and re-training forms specified in the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 79/2005/TT-BTC of September 15, 2005, guiding the management and use of funds for training or re-training of state officials and civil servants. Commune-level civil servants and part-time officials of communes, villages or hamlets shall have their study, travel and accommodation expenses wholly covered with the Program's training and re-training fund. Expense levels shall be based on appropriate spending items specified in the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 118/2004/TT-BTC of December 8, 2004, providing for the regime of working mission allowances and conference expenses applicable to administrative and non-business agencies and public non-business units throughout the country.

4. Policies on support for provision of services, improvement of people's living standards and legal assistance to raise people's law awareness.

The Nationalities Committee shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries and branches in, formulating and submitting such support policies to the Government for approval, and providing implementation guidance.

II. USE OF INVESTMENT CAPITAL SOURCES

1. Investment capital:

Program 135, phase II, is invested with various capital sources specified in Decision No. 07/2006/QD-TTg, including:

1.1. The central budget's capital (including foreign loans and aid capital) directly invested in Program 135;

1.2. Local budgets' capital directly invested in Program 135;

1.3. Capital sources lawfully mobilized in localities; supports of branches, economic units, social organizations and other localities in the form of monetary, material or labor contributions; on-spot resources, mostly in the form of materials or labor, mobilized from the population. Mobilization of contributions in cash shall not apply to poor households.

2. Allocation of capital sources for projects or policies:

2.1. The estimation, allocation and management of budget capital shall comply with the State Budget Law and guiding documents;

2.2. For special difficulty-hit communes, villages and hamlets, which perform the Program's tasks with local budgets under the Prime Minister's decisions, provincial People's Committees shall allocate capital for performance thereof, which is at least equal to capital allocation from the central budget.

3. Use of the central budget's capital source:

3.1. The central budget's capital source shall only be used to support projects or policies specified in Section I, Part II of this Circular.

3.2. Operation funds of local program-steering committees at all levels shall be allocated from local budgets and other lawful capital sources. The provinces which enjoy additional allocations from the central budget may use the Program's funds to cover expenses for operation of the steering committees. Annual support level shall not exceed 0.5% of the total support fund provided by the central budget to the program, with the minimum level of VND 50 million and the maximum level of VND 500 million for each province, and shall be realized from 2007. Provincial People's Committees shall set specific levels for their districts and communes.

3.3. The budget's investment capital sources for the implementation of Program 135 shall all be managed and settled in a centralized and uniform manner through the State Treasury. For contributions in materials, assistance in kind, in labor or completed works, finance agencies shall base themselves on unit prices of materials and the value of a workday to convert such contributions into Vietnam dong before making budget collection orders and concurrently making and sending budget expense orders to the State Treasury branches where transactions are conducted for accounting them into the works' values and incorporating them in state budget revenues and expenditures.

3.4. The Finance Ministry shall base itself on the estimates of targeted additional allocations from the central budget to local budgets assigned by the Prime Minister at the beginning of the year, competent authorities' decisions on targeted additional allocations from the central budget to local budgets made in the course of organization of budget implementation (if any) and periodical implementation results to transfer capital to localities according to the progress of realization and performance of set objectives and tasks.

III. PROCESS OF SUMMING UP, ASSIGNMENT OF, AND REPORTING ON PLANS

1. The elaboration, summing up and assignment of annual plans shall be carried out simultaneously with the elaboration of general plans under the Planning and Investment Ministry's guidance, but shall be reported and assigned as separate items in annual plans;

2. Under the guidance of the Planning and Investment Ministry and the Finance Ministry, the People's Committees of all levels shall elaborate annual investment plans and estimates of expenses for the implementation of the Program concurrently with annual state budget estimates, then send them to the Nationalities Committee, the Planning and Investment Ministry and the Finance Ministry for sum-up and submission to Prime Minister.

3. Assignment of plans: Annual plans shall be assigned as follows:

3.1. Under the Prime Minister's authorization, the Planning and Investment Ministry shall notify provinces of the total capital for projects and policies under the Program.

3.2. Basing themselves on budget estimates assigned by the Prime Minister and the guidance of the Planning and Investment Ministry and the Finance Ministry, provincial People's Committees shall direct provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Services and Finance Services in integrating capital sources in their localities, working out detailed plans on allocation of capital to units and their subordinates according to the budget management decentralization, then reporting them to provincial target program steering committees before submission to provincial People's Committees.

3.3. Provincial People's Committees shall propose provincial People's Councils to make decisions on allocation of capital for the implementation of the Program and assign units and their subordinates to implement such decisions;

IV. PROCESS OF SUPERVISION, ASSESSMENT, MAKING OF SUM-UP REPORTS

1. Supervision and assessment

1.1. Provincial People's Committees shall take direct and overall responsibility for the quality, progress and efficiency of the Program in their respective provinces. They shall base themselves on the objectives of Program 135 and actual conditions of their provinces to direct districts in setting targets to be achieved in each year, each period or upon the completion of the Program, which shall serve as the basis for monitoring and evaluation of the results of the Program in their provinces.

1.2. Provincial People's Committees shall direct units and districts in regularly conducting inspection of the implementation of the Program. Provincial standing offices of Program 135 shall be responsible for proposing inspection plans and contents, assisting provincial People's Committees in reviewing and reporting evaluation results to the central standing office of Program 135 (the Nationalities Committee).

1.3. Provincial People's Committees shall direct provincial/municipal Services, Departments, district People's Committees and the concerned units in creating conditions for local People’s Councils, the Fatherland Front and mass organizations of all levels and the community to participate and coordinate with one another in supervising the implementation of the Program.

1.4. The Nationalities Committee shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in, planning and organizing inspection and supervision and conducting annual, mid-term and final reviews of the implementation of the Program;

- Propose annual plans on audit of the Program's implementation to the Government for decision.

2. Sum-up reports

2.1. Provincial People's Committees shall have to direct the gathering of reports from local administrations of all levels for summing up into a report for submission to the Central Steering Committee for the Program. The local program management agencies must arrange full-time officials in charge of making sum-up reports. Before sending reports, investors are required to check the reported figures against those certified by the State Treasury branches where their accounts are opened.

2.2. On a quarterly basis, provincial People's Committees shall report to the Nationalities Committee, the Planning and Investment Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry and the Government Office. Report contents, form and procedures and criteria for supervision and evaluation shall comply with the guidance of the Nationalities Committee. In addition to general reports, provincial specialized bodies shall report to their superiors according to regulations.

2.3. The Central Standing Office of Program 135 shall sum up and send biannual and annual reports to the Central Steering Committee for Program 135.

Part III. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. Ministries and central branches shall, within the ambit of their respective functions and tasks, guide and specify necessary contents of this Joint Circular.

2. Provincial People's Committees shall detail and guide contents of this Circular to suit their respective local conditions and characteristics.

3. Provincial People's Committees shall assign their respective nationalities agencies to act as standing bodies of the Program. Standing bodies of the Program shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with provincial/municipal Services and branches in, advising and assisting provincial People's Committees in managing the Program and have the following tasks:

3.1. To coordinate with provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Services and Finance Services in guiding districts to work out annual capital plans and review and report the implementation of such annual plans in their localities to provincial People's Committees;

3.2. To assume the prime responsibility for elaborating capital plans for projects and policies under Program 135 for every district, then send them to provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Services and Finance Services for integration of local capital sources;

3.3. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with concerned units in, advising or proposing provincial People's Committees to provide guidance suitable to local conditions on the basis of the guidance of ministries and central branches;

3.4. To carry out some activities of the project on training and re-training of grassroots and community officials to raise their capability when so assigned by provincial People's Committees;

3.5. To assume the prime responsibility for, and assist provincial steering committees for target programs in, organizing inspection, monitoring, evaluation, review and reporting work according to regulations of provinces and the Central Standing Body of Program 135;

3.6. To perform other tasks assigned by provincial People's Committees.

4. Provincial People's Committees shall decide on the establishment of district-level standing offices of Program 135, which shall advise and assist district People's Committees in managing, directing, inspecting, reviewing and reporting the implementation of the Program in the whole districts from management units and communes where projects are executed.

District People's Committees may base themselves on the project execution decentralization and specific conditions to assign a unit to manage all projects or policies or assign specific units to manage specialized projects or policies.

Each commune shall have a project management unit established under a decision of the district People's Committee at the proposal of the commune People's Committee. A commune project management unit shall be composed of standing members being leaders of the commune People's Committee, an accountant, commune professional officials in charge of monitoring each project, other members working by term of office (chiefs or deputy chiefs of villages or hamlets having works or projects), and representatives of units and beneficiaries. Commune project management units shall have the legal person status and may open accounts in district State Treasury branches and use seals of commune administrations in their transactions. They perform the task of general management of projects and policies implemented in their localities under the district People's Committee's assignment.

Provincial People's Committees shall specifically guide the organization and operation of commune project management units and commune supervisory boards.

5. Branches and levels shall, within the ambit of their respective functions and tasks, have to direct, inspect, supervise and urge the implementation of this Joint Circular.

6. This Circular shall take effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO." All previous documents which are contrary to this Joint Circular are hereby annuled. Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be reported to the Central Standing Office of Program 135 for study, amendment or supplementation.